How to use cower in a sentence

20 example sentences · verb

Cower means to crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear. Example: “He'd be useless in war. He'd just cower in his bunker until the enemy came in and shot him, or until the war was over.”

Examples of cower by meaning

verbTo crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear.

He'd be useless in war. He'd just cower in his bunker until the enemy came in and shot him, or until the war was over.
Carrot ran past him to get to the barrel first, and peered down at the cowering Catweazle.1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 21

verbTo cause to cower; to frighten into submission.

My spirit will cower them and make them wish they had never risen up against me.2007, DJ Birmingham, The Queen's Tale: The Struggle for the Survival of Ireland, page 170
A vicious Mafia threat intended to cower him—but the chief doesn't cower.2010, Marilyn Brown Oden, The Dead Saint

More sentences with cower

The thugs kept bashing the cowering victim.From the entry bash
Fortunately, there’s early signs of a “wokelash” from institutions that won’t cower to this nonsense.2021 November 20, Angela Mollard, “Gen Z cancelling musical Grease is disappointing”, in The Daily Telegraph, Surrey Hills, N.S.W. From the entry menstruate
Children gleefully embracing the unknown, while their adult guardians cower in fear?2017 November 16, Leah Schnelbach, “The Birth of Spielbergian: Close Encounters of the Third Kind at 40”, in Tor.com. From the entry Spielbergian
He absolutely cowers as soon as a defensive lineman gets anywhere near him.2003 September 24, Bob TheBear, “About Ricky Ray”, in rec.sport.football.canadian (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Jun 2026. From the entry chickenpoop
One of the shooters looked under a desk and found 17-year-old Kacey Ruegsegger cowering there.2000, Gregory K. Moffatt, “Homicide by Children, Part II: Columbine”, in Blind-Sided: Homicide Where It Is Least Expected, Westport…. From the entry peek-a-boo
The werewolvish man released Dasher, who yipped and ran to Trixie, cowering behind her.1993, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, chapter 17, in The Thread That Binds the Bones, Open Road Integrated Media, published 2016, →ISBN. From the entry werewolvish
Comstock’s dented black Harley-Davidson was parked amid a bevy of bicycles that looked like cowering fawns beside it.2022, Jennifer Egan, The Candy House, Corsair, page 164. From the entry Harley-Davidson
Formality is simply another fence to cower behind.2014, Colleen McCullough, Bittersweet, page 366. From the entry poker up
OK? so I'll slap my pandies and you can all cower down into your anoraks and we'll leave on non-speaking terms!1998 July 30, Ron O'Brien, “Beta 4.0 v8 soon expires, then what?”, in demon.ip.support.turnpike (Usenet). From the entry pandy
But accusations of TERFery have been sufficient to intimidate many people, institutions and organisations I once admired, who’re cowering before the tactics of the playground.2020 June 10, J. K. Rowling, J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues. From the entry TERFery
His cries will be heard, his victims will cower in fear, and the strength of the Union will decay a little more."2015 October 5, Justin Wm. Moyer, anonymous quotee, “Philadelphia colleges on alert after 4chan post threatens violence Monday”, in The…. From the entry robot
The acting clerk, cowering behind his own desk, was either afraid to insist he assume a more military posture, or else didn’t care.1975, John Crowther, Firebase, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, page 107. From the entry fatigue
Oh! hae ye watched him wave aloft The thistle ower the roses, While cowering, glowering Saxons quake At a towzier beard than Moses'1900, Sir Francis Carruthers Gould, A Pictorial History of Political Events Connected with South Africa. From the entry towzier
It’s true that Team Trump, and its cowering minions in Congress, eventually parted ways with Powell as her professional demeanor gradually slipped to reveal her tinfoil hat.2021 March 23, David Von Drehle, “Sidney Powell does an about-face on her Stop the Steal claims”, in Washington Post, →ISSN. From the entry tinfoil hat
These bare, unworked facts evoke a scene right out of Hemingway, the overcoated wiseguy with the heater, the boy and the cook cowering in the kitchen (Another bright boy.2007 November 18, Rich Cohen, “Wiseguys”, in New York Times. From the entry overcoated
If he were allowed to develop according to his own instincts, his own inclinations, society would undergo such a radical transformation as to make the adult revolutionary cower and cringe.1969, Henry Miller, The Books in My Life, page 82. From the entry anarch

Meaning of cower

verb To crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear.
verb To crouch in general.
verb To cause to cower; to frighten into submission.

Full definition of cower

Questions about cower in a sentence

How do you use cower in a sentence?: Cower is used as a verb. For example: “He'd be useless in war. He'd just cower in his bunker until the enemy came in and shot him, or until the war was over.”
What is a short sentence with cower?: “The thugs kept bashing the cowering victim.”
What does cower mean?: Cower means to crouch or cringe, or to avoid or shy away from something, in fear.

Adapted from Wiktionary: cower (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use cower in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/cower. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.